UFC 115 in Vancouver officially fastest sellout in UFC history

As expected UFC 115 is the fastest sellout in Ultimate Fighting Championship history.

On Tuesday MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) passed along a Twitter message from UFC president Dana White, who stated tickets for the June 12 event sold out just 30 minutes after a pre-sale period began.

UFC officials today confirmed the show topped UFC 83 – another Canadian event – for the quickest sellout in the promotion’s history.

UFC 115 takes place at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The pay-per-view event features a headliner between “The Ultimate Fighter 11″ coach Chuck Liddell and “TUF 11″ replacement coach Rich Franklin. However, the main event probably played a rather small role in producing the sellout; White and other UFC officials long have stated that the Vancouver area provides some of the highest PPV buyrates and that ticket sales were expected to be brisk.

Of course, that’s the case with most of Canada. The event that previously hosted the sellout record, UFC 83, marked the UFC’s Canadian debut and took place at the Bell Centre in Montreal. After the pre-sale period, the show sold out less than a minute into the public on-sale period.

UFC 115 sales, though, never even made it to the public on-sale date. Members of the UFC Fight Club, the UFC’s official fan club, scooped up all the tickets in just 30 minutes. (Even members of the UFC’s e-newsletter, who traditionally get their own pre-sale right after the UFC Fight Club, never got an opportunity to purchase tickets.)

Despite the overwhelming demand, UFC 115 was nearly moved from Vancouver to Cincinnati. However, two weeks ago, a three-hour emergency meeting of the Vancouver City Council, which included UFC officials, satisfied the city’s concerns over legal liability and insurance costs.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?